I'm the Founder and Managing Partner of Ironfire Capital LLC, which runs a tech-focused hedge fund and angel fund. I did a Ph.D. in Management at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business in New York, with a specialization in Strategic Management. You can follow me on Twitter @ericjackson, subscribe to me on Facebook, follow me on Sina Weibo, or Circle me on Google+. My email is: dr.eric.jackson@me.com

The Most Under-rated Key to Long-Term Career Success: Staying Power

I love and deeply admire folks who just keep churning out great work. Here’s to those who keep at it and continue to prove they’re no flash in the pan.

But how does this happen that people seem to have great talent and fizzle out while others with the same or less talent persist?

Remember Sam Bowie? The Portland Trailblazers selected him in the 1984 NBA Draft instead of picking Michael Jordan. Bowie was an All-American basketball player in high school and at the University of Kentucky. After his first season, he suffered a string of injuries and only ever played 63 games for the next 4 years. Michael Jordan went on to be arguably the best basketball player ever.

Some people keep showing up for work on Monday morning to clock in and perform at a high level.

Here are a few examples.

- Madonna and U2 keep doing it in pop music compared to kids in their teens and 20s.

- Steve Nash was a short guard out of unheralded University of Santa Clara and even more unheralded Victoria, British Columbia. Yet, at 39, he just signed a 3 year deal with the Lakers after an outstanding hall of fame career and is still in amazing shape.

- Magic Johnson not only had a long career until HIV ended it prematurely, but has transitioned into perhaps the most successful ex-athlete business executive ever.

- Most companies only have 1 hit consumer product over their lifespans, if they’re lucky. Yet, Steve Jobs presided over the AppleII, the Mac, the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, and (to be released next year) the Apple (AAPL) TV.

- Howard Schultz bought a little coffee company in Seattle in the 1970s and built it into a colossus. He stepped down as CEO from Starbucks (SBUX) in 2000 and saw it start to drift. So, he came back in 2008 and has helped spark a renewed growth in the brand and push into China and mobile commerce.

- Henry Blodget was a 32 year old stock analyst at a lesser known Wall Street firm called Oppenheimer. However, he predicted Amazon (AMZN) would soon hit $400 a share – and it did a month later, after increasing 128%. On the heels of the attention he received, he was hired at Merrill Lynch. Yet, New YorkState Attorney

General Eliot Spitzer and the Securities and Exchange Commission went after him for civil securities fraud, due to some of his private emails painting a different opinion he had of certain stocks he covered compared to his published research. Henry had to pay a $2 million fine and a $2 million disgorgement. Yet, now he’s the CEO of Business Insider – one of the fastest growing news-sites around – and contributes regularly to Yahoo! Finance (YHOO) and New York Magazine.

It’s amazing to me how Henry got through those years 2003 – 2007. A lot of people would have been so embarrassed that they would have just disappeared. He was banned from the securities industry. He was written off by most people as a “liar.” How do you have “staying power” at that darkest moment of your life – especially when you’ve got a wife and kids at home?

I asked Henry how he got through that dark time:

Not sure what to say other than that what happened was appalling to me and there was no way in hell I was going to go out like that.

From the moment it happened, I started working as hard as I could to regain the trust I had lost. I knew it would take a long time, and I’m grateful to everyone who has given me a second chance over the past ten years.

Anyone can win one race on a given day. Few can keep winning marathons. Why is it that?

Well, here’s what doesn’t seem to matter to whether you’ll have staying power or not.

- Smarts

- Talent

- Good looks

No, to still be walking down that dirt road at then end of your career – 20, 40, or 60 years from now – here’s what is going to ensure your career will have “staying power”:

1. Never give up. Sounds simple, right? But, most around you, won’t be able to follow this rule. It’s easier to give up than to keep going. It subjects you to less criticism. But we all go through valleys in our life – personal or work-related.

My dad used to advise me when these dark moments came to “keep putting one foot in front of the other.”

My favorite bumper sticker slogan on this point is “If you’re going through Hell, keep going.” What’s the alternative?